I was planning on doing DCC’s Animated Robin next, but something came up. Something big that I was not planning on. I haven’t dipped my toe into the Combiner Wars as of yet. Nothing has really appealed to me enough. Is that me being a snob? Possibly. But in a way I’m trying to be a little more picky so I don’t end up with giant bins of Transformers I fell out of love with.

This brings us to Megatron, which is among the first two leader class releases for the Combiner Wars re-branding. He’s joined in a case by, Megatron. Armada Megatron, that is. If you only see Armada Megatron sitting on a toy store shelf then that means you got there too late. The good news is that after a few weeks of running into the Armada version, I have now seen quite a few of this one. I could be snarky and say that this is the “proper” version, but I’m actually a pretty big fan of the Armada color scheme. The question is if I’m $50 invested in that color scheme? Probably not. If it ever hits the $22 price that Jetfire fell to then I will slam down that buy button without hesitation.

I was never too impressed with the early prototype pictures of this Megatron. I liked how you could make him an Autobot to line up with the IDW continuity. However, I have an unhealthy hatred for stickers so I’d rather they monogrammed the symbol instead of making me stick it on. I understand why they wouldn’t, because this would probably confuse the majority of potential buyers of this item (like putting Prowl as the head of Devastator). Once I got him I went for the sticker anyway. I love Autobot Megatron. It’s my favorite thing ever, and I’m going to be so sad when the comics eventually convert him back or he leaves the Lost Light. That said Hasbro gave me the option, and in doing so they got themselves a buyer.

As was expected, Megatron does not transform into a gun. He does the second best thing since his alt-mode is a tank, and a very well done tank at that. He only takes fifteen steps to transform, so it was a pretty easy process. Which is kind of nice for a Megatron figure. His tank mode is absolutely fantastic! The thing looks like tank (which is important), has working treads, and the cannon can make a complete 360 degree turn. It’s shockingly well engineered! After transforming him I was really impressed with how nice looking and functional his tank mode is.

This also means they NEED to make a G2 Megatron with this mold. Not using that opportunity would be like Takara not making a blue G2 Masterpiece Grimlock …. sigh. Part of a SDCC exclusive? Come on Hasbro!

His bot-mode I’m slightly conflicted on. First off, I do actually like it quite a bit. However, I do have a few nitpicks about it. The choice in size is interesting because he’s just slightly too short to scale with MP-10 Optimus, but he also dwarfs the Combiner Wars Prime. I could see this figure driving somebody who is really particular about scale nuts. I thought I was going to hate the knee placement but I don’t. However I do have an issue with the ratchet joints where the legs meet the hip. I wish the teeth on the ratchets were a little smaller because I can get maybe two clicks out before his legs are too far apart. If you move his legs in too far it makes him look like he’s holding in a piss.

I’d like posable fingers on him. I feel like once a figure gets past a certain size and if the transformation allows it articulated hands should be required. If anybody out there every offers just a set of hands that are easy to swap in I’ll be really happy. And yes, I am aware of that DX9 kit that gives him heels and a bunch of other stuff. Personally I think that’s overkill. He doesn’t need all that. Just a set of hands would make a world of difference.

Megatron has a damn nice head sculpt. The neck is also on a really great ball joint that gives his head a giant range of motion. It really helps with finding your preferred pose. The light-piping into the head looks great too. When the top of his head catches some good light the eyes really light up and it looks incredible!

Leader Class Megatron exceeded all of my expectations. Sure, I didn’t have the highest opinion of him pre-purchase, but I can admit when I’m wrong about a hunch. This figure is great. He’s a giant robot with an incredibly easy, but satisfying transformation. Both of his modes are fabulous, and I’m still in love with the fact that I can spin the tank’s cannon completely around. He can be had for anywhere between $40 – $50, I’d suggest hitting up Amazon if you want one now. I went the Toys ‘R’ Us method since I had a coupon. I don’t regret it one bit, this is a great figure that Hasbro hit out of the park.

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I ordered the Takara Superion. It wasn’t much more than piecing together the Hasbro set and maybe the paint will be better. I don’t have a nice Superion and none of the 3P ones look all that great to me, so it will be nice. Devastator is an instant buy!

I ended up returning Megatron. He looked a bit too bizarre for me, with his big head on a tiny neck, and his shoulders near the front of his chest. Also the basically useless leg articulation all added up to a bot that just didn’t impress me too much.
The big thing was that he just couldn’t really match up, scale wise, to MP-10.
If he ever goes on sale I’ll pick him back up, because he’s not awful, he just wasn’t $50 great.